If you’re a blogger and often have to draw good looking html tables, it may be a daunting task. Our favorite blogging tool, Windows Live Writer, though provides a native table creation utility but it lacks good formatting options.

Here is a better and quick way. First go to MS Excel and create the best looking table in the world. With various options in Excel 2007 ad Excel 2010 it is literally a matter of minutes. Once done simply select and copy the complete table.

Go to Windows Live Writer. Right click where you would want to insert the table and choose Paste Special instead of Paste.

Select Keep Formatting, press Ok button and you have your HTML table generated.  (Check how the above table rendered on one our earlier articles)

Recommended: 43 Hand Picked Tools for Bloggers

Bloggers: Create a beautiful looking HTML table in minutes is a post from ReviewOfWeb

Sometimes we miss out on small things. Here is a quick tip, if you use Windows Live Writer for your blogging needs. 

We have the habit of pressing Enter to change from one paragraph to another. This keystroke introduces a space between the two lines. In HTML, it is represented as </p>(end of paragraph). What will you do if you simply need to break a line without introducing space and maintaining the same paragraph.

There are two methods, either go to HTML(Source) view and write <br /> before the sentence OR
quicker way is to press Shift+Enter. I know it’s something very trivial and is a standard way to break the line, but just in case.

Line break in writer and not a paragraph break is a post from ReviewOfWeb

There can be valid reasons when you wish to make a post which sticks on the home page of your blog. Follow the steps below:

1) Go To “Edit Posts” for the post that you want to make sticky.

2) Click on “Post Options”. You will see options as shown in this screenshot.

3) Change the “Post date” to any future date.

4) You are done.

After making a post sticky if you try installing Windows Live Writer. You would get the following error.

The style template used for editing your weblog posts could not be downloaded.You will be able to post to this Weblog, but the editor will not use your blog’s style.

While configuring your blog, WLW makes a temporary post on your blog. Now since you have made one of the posts sticky. WLW would not be able to find the temporary post it has posted and hence will throw the error shown above.

A simple solution is:

1. Either configure WLW before making your post sticky. OR
2. Change the date of your sticky post to current date and time. Configure WLW. Change the date again to future.

Make a sticky post in blogspot is a post from ReviewOfWeb

If you want to water mark your images, no need to go beyond our favorite Windows Live Writer. This is a hidden but very handy feature which does not require any third party apps.

Steps to put watermark on your images:

1. Import the image on the live writer editor.
2. Select the image. You will see this on right hand side.
   1. 1. 
3. Go to “Effects” Tab > Click on + dropdown > Go To OverLays > Watermark
4. Choose the text that would appear as a watermark.
5. You also have the option to choose font, size or position of watermark on the image.

Water Marker — a lesser known feature of windows live writer is a post from ReviewOfWeb